


Five Times Talanah Thinks Aloy Is Beautiful And One Time She Says It

by Serie11



Series: Femslash February 2018 [26]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Gay, Post-Canon, This fic is just Talanah being really super gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 08:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13830123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/pseuds/Serie11
Summary: What it says in the title and tags





	Five Times Talanah Thinks Aloy Is Beautiful And One Time She Says It

 

i

The first time Talanah sees Aloy, she’s having a terrible day.

Seeing such a pretty girl cheers her up though – she looks up to see Aloy approaching her, and introduces herself as someone who wants to join the Lodge. Talanah can only chuckle when she thinks about this fiery woman clashing with Ahsis. It’ll be worth sponsoring her, just for that.

“Get some trophies,” Talanah advises. “You have to beat them at their own game.”

Aloy’s eyes shine. Talanah is captivated by them – they’re a swirl of different colours, subtle greens and flecks of gold that blend into a whole that amazes her. She didn’t know that eyes could look like that.

Aloy looks away too quickly, and leaves too soon for Talanah’s liking. She can follow the blaze of Aloy’s hair until she goes, and then her oppressive mood reasserts itself. Talanah chews on her lip for a few seconds and then shakes her head.

Aloy is a distraction. A nice distraction, yes, but Talanah really doubts that she’ll show up with those trophies, even if she seemed capable of getting them. After having seen the inside of the Lodge, Talanah wouldn’t blame her at all for never coming back. But that’s why she can’t let Aloy distract her – she has to find Redmaw. She has to unseat Ahsis, and change the Lodge from what it is right now. That should be her one and only driving goal.

It _is_ her one driving goal. But for a few days, she can’t get the image of Aloy’s eyes out of her head.

 

ii

Aloy has been running around gathering trophies for a while now, and Talanah won’t say that she’s impressed, even though she is impressed – with Aloy’s ability to put up with Ahsis, anyway. So now that she’s established herself as an actor on the board of the Lodge’s politics, Talanah wants to know her better. Her strengths and weaknesses and how she responds to situations, and what her plans are for the Lodge. Talanah doesn’t think that she wants to be heavily involved with the Lodge, but she can’t say for sure until she asks Aloy.

So she invites her along on one of the self-assigned missions that Talanah performs because Ahsis won’t do it. The fact that he has the gall to turn away people in need has always made her seethe. So Talanah has quietly and not so quietly begun to help the people who came to petition the Lodge. If Ahsis turned them away, she would mark them and chase them down after they left. Talanah knows that Ahsis knows about her activities, but it isn’t like he can do anything about it. She isn’t claiming to represent the Lodge in any official capacity, and he can’t control what she does in her spare time. Talanah half thinks that he’s hoping that she’d get herself killed, and then he won’t have to deal with her anymore. Well, there’s no way that she’s going to give him that type of satisfaction, and there is no way that she’s going to leave people in need when she can help. The Sundom already has so many issues that Talanah can’t fix – when she has the means and opportunity to help, she grasps it with both hands.

Aloy turns up to the town just before the next glinthawk attack, and Talanah is grateful for her help. She could have taken down all the flying machines by herself, but it would have taken longer, and more damage would have been done to this place. The people who live here don’t need to deal with any more than they have to.

Talanah approaches Aloy after the fight. She had been wild and fierce, and Talanah had noticed. Aloy’s hair had shone in the afternoon light, and Talanah is almost convince that it was lit ablaze while Aloy fought. There’s a slight sheen of sweat over her skin that Talanah can’t help but stare at – and then she’s staring into her eyes again, green and gold and mesmerising. The curl of her hair in the way that it framed her face is beautiful.

“Looks like that’s it for now,” Talanah notes. She can’t take her eyes away from Aloy’s face.

Aloy nods. “But there has to be a reason that they’re coming here. I think they came from upriver. I’ll go and investigate.”

Talanah nods. She wants to go with her, but –

“I’ll stay here and defend the town, in case more glinthawks come.” She tilts her head slightly when Aloy splutters a bit. “You’re a big girl. You can take care of yourself.”

“Right,” Aloy says. Talanah watches as she vaults off the grappling point and into the valley below.

The town probably does need defending, but that isn’t why Talanah didn’t want to go with Aloy. There’s going to be trouble at the end of the path that she’s treading, Talanah can tell. And one of the goals of this mission had been to see how Aloy dealt with adversary.

Talanah says her farewells to the people of the town, and turns down their attempts to pay her. They’ll probably need the shards soon enough. She’s heard rumblings through the Lodge that taxes might be raised this year, and she doubts that a place like this will have much to spare.

Heading towards the grappling point herself, she steels her will and throws herself off the cliff.

 

iii

It’s hard to find a place to watch the confrontation without getting spotted. Talanah had found a higher rock ledge that she could peer over the top of, but it was too far away to hear what was being said. Frustrated with herself, she stares intently at Aloy and the men that she’s confronting.

Talanah is still shocked with the sheer amount of snapmaws that they had passed. The waste of the machines had unsettled her – like Aloy, she had spent a few minutes stripping the easiest things from the carcasses. The only thing missing from all of the machines were the hearts. Talanah knows that they’re the most valuable thing, but leaving the rest of the machines seems like an immense waste. Surely if they’re harvesting hearts, they would want to get as much out of the kill as possible? The sheer stupidity of the waste grates on her nerves.

Several more people suddenly step out to where Talanah and Aloy can see them. Talanah tenses and reaches for her bow, gripping it tightly. She wants to see what Aloy is made of, not see Aloy get killed in front of her.

The people Aloy was talking with raised their voices suddenly. Aloy remains calm, but she plants her feet on the ground and Talanah can tell that she could pull her bow in a flash.

The man yells, and all the people around suddenly have weapons in their hands. Talanah nocks an arrow, but before she can aim, she sees Aloy _move._

If Aloy had been light on her feet in the fight against the glinthawks, here she hovers above the ground. Her arrows find their targets cleanly, and she rolls and sprints to avoid the arrows coming her way. Talanah blinks and stares, because Aloy’s hair glints in the light, and she uses her bow easily and with a deep familiarity. In under a minute, all the people in the clearing are dead except for Aloy, and Talanah hasn’t even fired one arrow.

She slides down the ground and makes her way over to Aloy, who is investigating the downed men.

“Talanah!” she says. Her lips curl. “You followed me?”

“Hawks always have to look after their thrush,” Talanah says. Aloy blinks.

“So you’ve decided to take me on?”

“After that display?” Talanah laughs. “You can bet on it.”

Aloy grins. The sight of it nearly knocks Talanah senseless. She’s _beautiful._ “Awesome. Now help me find their stash of snapmaw hearts. I figured that we could give them to the townspeople, as a way to apologise for all the glinthawk attacks.”

Talanah grins back. “That sounds like a great idea.”

 

iv

Talanah near collapses to the ground. In front of her, Redmaw is sparking and glinting the last remnants of its life away. _They did it. Redmaw is really dead._

After so long terrorising the Carja people, this thunderjaw has finally been brought low. It almost doesn’t feel real. Talanah can’t take her eyes off of it – like if she looks away for a second, it’ll disappear.

“We did it,” Aloy gasps out beside her, getting her breath back. Talanah manages to drag her eyes away from Redmaw so that she can look at Aloy.

She has her hands on her knees and is looking at the downed thunderjaw. Talanah notes the awe in her eyes. It was a hard fight, and Talanah knows that she couldn’t have done it without Aloy by her side.

Aloy turns to look at her, and Talanah’s breath catches, this time for a different reason. Aloy looks so _vibrant,_ living and glowing and shining and sprouting from all angles. She’s a bit sweaty and dirty and bloody from the fighting, but Talanah is as well. She has a dimple on one cheek from where she’s smiling at Talanah, and her smile is just – it’s stunning and amazing and Talanah thinks that she might be in awe of it.

Right now, she thinks that Aloy might be the most beautiful person she’s ever seen.

Aloy’s eyes are soft when she stands up. She offers her hand out to Talanah, and Talanah uses it to pull herself up. It means that she ends up standing too close to Aloy, but Talanah is beginning to think that neither of them really mind that.

“Let’s head back,” Aloy suggests, and Talanah nods. Right. Back to the Lodge, where she can claim her position as Sunhawk.

It feels like a dream come true.

 

v

Talanah sits on the steps that lead to the Spire and waits.

There’s a battle coming, that much she knows. She’s never fought the black skittering machines that other hunters have spotted and downed across the Sundom. She’s gotten Aloy to describe one to her, though – a few of their attack patterns, and the fact that they’re weak to fire. She touches the fire arrows stocked in her quiver. She doesn’t really know what will happen in the final battle, but she’s as prepared as she can be.

Steps approach, and Talanah stands, only to see Aloy turn the corner. Relaxing slightly, she leans against the barrier and doesn’t draw her bow. A sneak attack is just the kind of low thing that Helis would try to pull off, but no one is getting to the Spire without going through Talanah first. She’s determined to do that, at the very least.

“Checking up on things up there?” Talanah asks.

“Yeah,” Aloy says. She rolls her shoulders. “It’s just the waiting, you know? There’s nothing to do. We’re in the defence position, so we can’t really mount an attack of our own.” She looks at Talanah searchingly. “I know that HADES has to come here, and to come here, he’s going to have to be weak. That’s my chance to strike.”

“I know that you’re a good enough hunter to wait until the perfect moment to strike,” Talanah says. She reaches out and puts a hand on Aloy’s shoulder. “I believe in you.”

Aloy’s eyes go a bit squinty and her mouth flattens. Talanah tightens her grip on Aloy’s shoulder and then brings her in for a hug. Aloy takes a shuddering breath in against Talanah’s skin, and she lets her. Anything that Aloy needs, Talanah is more than happy to deliver.

“Everyone’s counting on me but I don’t know if I can do it,” Aloy whispers. “What if I fail? The consequences are just too big.”

Talanah hugs her harder. “We’re all here as well, you know. We’re all here to help you. I know that together, we can prevail.”

Aloy steps back and manages a smile. Talanah’s heart aches to see it – it’s sad, but hopeful at the same time. She thinks that it’s beautiful.

“Thanks Talanah,” Aloy says “You’re right. We’re all here, all giving our all. If we lose, then we can at least say that we tried.”

“At the very least,” Talanah says wryly.

Aloy shakes her head and settles back into her skin. It’s gratifying to see. “Okay, well then I’m headed up. I’ll see you around?”

“See you around,” Talanah says quietly, watching Aloy’s retreating back.

 

vi

When the dust has settled and Talanah has bound her wounds, she goes looking for ways to help the other people of Meridian. The town is still mostly on fire, so she joins a bucket line from the river and tries to get as much water into town as she can. By the time that all the fires have been doused, the sun is starting to rise on a new day.

Talanah bows her head as the first light of dawn falls on her. She’s not usually one for prayers, but today she offers one to the Sun, for the people who have lost lives and homes in the last day. Around her she can tell people are also stilling in silent contemplation, letting the sun wash away the last day’s stress.

With all the fires out, Talanah wanders back towards the town. She has half a mind to go up to the Lodge and see how everything there is doing, before remembering that the elevators have been destroyed. Dismayed, she looks up at them. One is properly destroyed, while the other is almost okay. But neither would be carrying people between the city and the town any time soon.

So she turns to the old way of climbing to the city, up the ridgeline and then up along the bridges. It’s a bit of a trek, but it’s the only way up to the city now.

At the outskirts of the town, Talanah spots Aloy and Erend moving a large piece of rubble. Behind it there’s a scared looking teenager who promptly bursts into tears and throws himself into the arms of a waiting woman, who is also crying. Aloy and Erend smile at the scene.

“I think that’s everyone for now,” Erend says. “I’m going to go and check.”

“Okay,” Aloy says as he leaves. She smiles at Talanah, but it looks forced. Talanah just nods back – she doesn’t think she could manage a smile at the moment.

“I was going to head back up to the city,” Talanah says.

“Me too,” Aloy sighs. “I want to talk to Avad.”

“I need to check on the Lodge, and what we can do for these people,” Talanah says.

Aloy rubs a hand over her forehead. It leaves a sooty mark behind.

“Are you feeling okay?” Talanah asks, concerned.

“I’m fine,” Aloy says shortly.

“I don’t think anyone’s fine today,” Talanah says wryly.

“Maybe,” Aloy concedes. “But I have to be fine, for everyone here. They don’t need anything else to drag them down.”

She stands there, proud and strong and adaptable, and Talanah can only marvel at her.

“You’re beautiful,” she says quietly. Aloy’s eyes widen and she blushes lightly.

“I… thank you.”

Talanah huffs a laugh at Aloy’s shocked expression. “You want to walk up to the city together?”

Aloy brightens, smiling for real this time. “I’d love to.”

**Author's Note:**

> Technically today's prompt was: rivals to lovers, but I wasn't really feeling it, so I changed it to this instead lol


End file.
